We have just begun the four-and-a-half-month span — between the solemnities of the Assumption (Aug. 15) and Mary, mother of God (Jan. 1) — into which all our holy days of obligation are now compressed.
Why has the conversation around “emotional labor” as defined in the first two examples become so important? I think, in part, that we want to be seen, and the work of those first two definitions is mostly little and hidden. It’s the myriad of intentional movements that make up such a large part of our lives but that go unnoticed unless we don’t do them. They are the small, ordinary, but often sacred threads that, stitched together, are a life of holiness in service to others.
"You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts." This observation, attributed to Democratic politician Daniel Patrick Moynihan, comes to mind as I see warring opinions about the Trump administration's latest conflict with Planned Parenthood.
Tradition has it that in the eighth century, a monk who had doubts about the Real Presence was saying Mass, and at the time of the consecration, the bread and wine turned to flesh and blood.
Back in 1995 the American theologian Germain Grisez and I published an article noting with dismay poll data showing that a very large number of self-identified Catholics in the United States believed that Christ’s presence in the Blessed Sacrament was only “symbolic” rather than a real presence as the church clearly and firmly taught.
As I’ve prayed the Seven Sorrows Rosary over the last few weeks, I’ve come to see Our Lady of Sorrows in a new way.
Jesus says to his disciples in the Gospel of Luke: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” Allow me to attempt to unpack this strong image.
“On hearing it, many of his disciples said, ‘This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?’ … From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him” (Jn 6:60, 66). What did Jesus say that caused his disciples to turn their backs on him? He said, directly and repeatedly, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will not have life within you.” And, to clarify he wasn’t speaking symbolically, “My flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink.” He was telling them, for the first time, about his real presence — body, blood, soul and divinity — in the Eucharist.
Remember when you were young and your parents taught you how to write a thank-you note?
There even might have been a copy of Emily Post’s Etiquette book in your house. It was big and heavy.
All the assurance
Each day, the souls of more than 150,000 people pass from this life into eternity. That’s more than 6,000 each hour, or 100 each minute. Have you ever wondered what happens to them all? Where do they go? Jesus’ teaching holds forth two, and only two, eternal destinations for the human soul — either everlasting fulfillment in heaven, or everlasting torment in hell. Dare we hope that most people go to heaven? Some spiritual writers, most notably St. Clement of Alexandria and St. Gregory Nazianzen, believed that God's mercy was so great that most souls were saved. Many other saints, most notably St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, believed that evil was so pervasive and sin so corrupting, that most souls were lost.